For A Friend
by Rina Graywords
Summary: Lina was sitting in her room thinking about her past adventures, when Gourry comes in looking oddly serious. "Lina, we need to talk, this is serious." What in the world could be happening now?
1. Gourry's Announcement

Author's Note: Before beginning what at least in is my first Slayers related story, I would like to point out a few things about my creation. I suppose you could look at this story as a bit of a crossover. The reason for this is I'm writing this story on the assumption that on some basis, the world of fiction is connected. In this particular case, the worlds of The Slayers and Ronin Warriors (or YST) are treated as one. You could argue that the Ronin world is outside the barrier that ceased to exist once Try began, but the important thing here is that the worlds co-exist. So I suppose I'm asking you to imagine a world where all fictional characters could have the potential to meet on at least one plane, but I'm only dealing with two of them in this instance. Everybody with me so far? Other thing is introducing two characters briefly. Rina Grayowrds, my penname, is a character I created to be Zelgadis Grayword's younger sister by two years. She got transformed into a chimera soon after Zel was, so as far as that goes they look somewhat similar. I'll try to get pictures up at least on a link for you to see. The second is Kaily Date, who is the character created to be Sage Date's younger sister. So here's where a bulk of the Ronin Warrior aspect comes in. Just imagine a blonde blue-eyed girl who is a strong warrior but wants nothing more than to be everybody's friend. Getting on this girl's bad side is hard work, but you do stay there. My best friend and I have always thought there was a huge similarity between Zel and Sage, so this is part of where this sharing of worlds comes from. If you want to know more, I can tell you, but I should get on with the first half of this cute little story. Enjoy!  


**For A Friend**

Part I

Looking out at the snow falling on the ground, Lina Inverse sat on the windowsill thinking intently about the many events, people, and dreams entering her mind like the falling snow on the landscape before her. So many things had happened in the past two years. She had met many new friends in this time, saving the world when the time called for it, but somehow or another she always managed to have a little fun every now and then, keeping everyone's spirits alive. Now, she, Lina Inverse, was a world-renowned sorceress, and even the fiancé of Gourry Gabriev. The two of them were still waiting for the right time to get married and settle down. But in the meantime, wasting no time, she made sure to keep her magic skills up and all of her friends, including Gourry, on their toes.

Lina rested her chin on the palm of her hand and smiled. All of her friends; Gourry, Zelgadis, Amelia, Rina, and the rest of them had shared a great deal of adventures together, and if she could go against fate one more time, she couldn't think of any others she'd rather do it with. Trouble was, there was no way of getting a world-threatening situation just by wishing for one. Things just didn't work that way.

Then the door opened behind her with a creek, and a tall figure with long blonde hair and bangs that covered his right eye dressed in green pajamas stood in the open doorway. It was Gourry, and he was looking oddly serious.

Lina turned around on the windowsill, in her white pajama pants and button down long sleeve shirt. "Gourry, is something wrong?" she asked him, looking a little worried.

"Lina, we need to talk," he announced and shut the door behind him. "This is serious."

"What's so serious? Did something happen? There isn't a new monster on the loose or another piece of Shabernigdo hasn't been reborn or maybe a-" Lina guessed before Gourry interrupted.

"No, no, it's nothing like that. It's more important," Gourry insisted, looking slightly annoyed as he walked over to her bed and sat down on it.

Lina pushed herself off the windowsill and sat down next to him and asked, "more important than the fate of the world?" Her eyes were wide with wonder, and then an idea struck her. "Nothing happened to you, did it?"

"No! It's not about me, or the world! It's about Zel, Lina," Gourry told her with obvious frustration.

"Zel? What's wrong with him? He didn't go off on his own again, did he?"

Gourry shook his head. "I think it has something to do with that jewelry thing of his and something to do with that girl he likes."

"Her name is Kaily, Gourry," Lina corrected him, eyes slightly narrowed.

"Yeah, her," Gourry added in, completely oblivious to his fiancé's annoyance.

"So what's the big emergency?" Lina asked, leaning forward with her hands gripped to the side of the bed so she wouldn't fall off as she looked into the strangely serious eyes of the blonde swordsman beside her. Gourry was rarely serious about anything, so even at such common news as this, she supposed she should give it her full attention. "He hasn't shut himself in his room again, pacing around, in an attempt to figure anything out, has he, Gourry?"

"Not quite."

"Not quite? How can you almost lock yourself in your room?"

"Well, he came into my room to talk to me about things. He said he needed a different opinion on a few matters. So I said sure he could talk to me about it, and next thing I know he's pacing around my room telling me everything that's on his mind. It was so intense and serious, Lina."

"It's Zelgadis, of course it's serious. He doesn't go around spilling his guts just because he feels like it. He only does that when something's been on his mind for a long enough that he has no other choice. That's his nature; he lets his guard down around practically nobody if he can help it. Rina's told me he wasn't always like that, but once Rezo turned them both into chimeras, it just gets worse and worse. Then when he met all of us things started to get better, he became more open, and started smiling again. But seven years is a long time to get over. Seven long years with no friends but his sister and two people he met under Rezo's command, only to lose both of them because of Rezo's foolishness. And you know how far he's come since then, he's a great guy, and he tries harder than practically anyone when it comes down to it," added in Lina, crossing her ankles and looking down at the wooden floor and then back up at Gourry again.

"Yeah, and then he met Kaily and things started changing again. I gotta say, I know the feeling. You think you have everything finally worked out great and then some girl shows up," Gourry pointed out.

Lina glared at him, "some girl shows up, huh? Is that how it works?!"

Gourry winced, "I didn't mean it like that," he said looking up at the ceiling with a weak smile, one hand scratching the back of his head.

"Is that so..." Lina said coolly, eyes narrowed and lit with a hint of annoyance.

"I was just saying that when a girl comes into a guy's life things obviously change. In the case of Zel an' me, things change on the level that we've never really dealt with before. And for a warrior that's like coming up to some brand new challenge, one that has something you've never seen or sensed before. You get a kind of awe and respect for it, and pretty soon you wanna know all you can about this new technique, style, or opponent because you're so deeply fascinated by it!" Gourry exclaimed with obvious enthusiasm.

"So in short you get obsessed whenever something that's remotely different or interesting comes along," Lina said in a flat tone, eyeing Gourry with a hint of malice in her auburn eyes.

"I guess so, but it's not that complicated. When it comes down to the whole girl thing-"

"Girl thing, Gourry?" Lina repeated, eyes narrowed and one eyebrow twitching as she hinted through the tone of her voice the trouble she had with his word choice.

But all of that went completely over Gourry's head and he continued, reminiscing, "yeah! Girl thing. Anyway, things change and sooner or later you find yourself lost without this person, that is if you luck out and find the right person in the world for you."

"And what happens if you don't?"

Gourry seemed to ponder this for a moment, then sat upright holding his ankles with both hands as he sat on Lina's bed answering, "you just will! That's why they're the right one for you, Lina."

Yes, but say you met somebody and you thought they were the one, but then something happened and you met someone new. So, are they the one for you, or was it the first? Or say by chance you met them both at the same time, then which one's the one for you? Or is everything simply all by chance and there really is destiny..." Lina said with a glow in her eyes.

"What?" Gourry said with clear and downright confusion. "Sorry, I didn't get a word of that, Lina."

"Never mind, jellyfish brains. What's up with Zel? That's why you came in here, isn't it?"

"Am I?"

Lina face faulted and fell flat on the wooden floor, and then pushed herself up again before sitting down on her bed once more, next to Gourry. "Yes, Gourry. You had a talk with Zelgadis, remember?"

Somewhere in the depths of Gourry's head, a light went on. "Oh yeah!"

"Oh boy..." Lina sighed, resting her forehead on her right hand.

"Well, he seems to be pretty upset about a lot of stuff, Lina."

"Oh yeah, there's a surprise..." Lina put in, annoyed with sudden boredom as she twiddled her finger with a lock of Gourry's long blonde hair that lay on the sleets beside her.

"Are you going to listen so we can try to help or are you just going to keep commenting every time I try to explain this to you?" Gourry said slamming his hands down on the bed, causing Lina to jump.

"Hey, hey, calm down there, Gourry...I was just saying that for Zel, being serious isn't that strange. I mean it's great when then guy's happy, but you explaining something to me is a bit more odd than Zelgadis Graywords being serious."

"Ha, ha, very funny, Lina," Gourry said, not looking very amused. "So are you going to listen to me or not?"

"I suppose I could," she answered in a far away voice, leaning back and wrapping her arms around her knees after a short stretch. "Shoot."

However, Gourry turned his head away from Lina and sighed. "Oh I give up," he said exasperated.

Lina blinked. "Wha?"

"If you don't wanna listen I can just leave, ya know..."

"Gourry...I'm sorry, I'm listening now, talk away."

"And you'll listen?"

"Yes."

"All right then," Gourry said triumphantly, as he turned around again. "Where was I?"

"Why Zel's upset."

"Right." He cleared his throat and then continued again. "So anyway, I was sitting there listening to Zelgadis talk about just about everything. And I mean everything. About how he's still frustrated about that Ceiphied dragoon guy telling him to just go on living and not keep obsessing over finding a cure for his curse, Rezo in general even though he's dead, all the adventures we've had together, how much his life has changed, Rina and how much he cares about her and keeping her safe, how much he misses Zolf and Rodimus, the whole thing with the Ronin Warriors and Kaily, all the rimes he's felt like he's lost her, about this ring he has, even showed it to me. It's really pretty too, and what else...? Oh yeah. He talked about Sekhmet, and all the stuff surrounding the jewely thing he gave him. There's even a poem that goes with the thing, and Zel's convinced that part of it involves Kaily in a way, which worries him. He's actually really worried about it. Stressed out even. I mean he's worried about not putting her in any danger as well as how to deal with what the other Ronins may think."

"That's because he's low on confidence and doesn't know what they'll think. He's probably got some idea in his head that if they knew half of what went through his mind daily, or the fact that he has an engagement ring in a box in his room that he'd never be able to see her again. He's afraid and he's just going to have to get over that," Lina pointed out in a calm voice.

"But what about the jewel thingy? What about that?" Gourry asked.

"I have no idea. That thing's not from our world, and I'm not any more knowledgeable about it than you are. All I know is that it has some special power that he one day is to find, and a clue to how to do that is in the poem."

"So can we help him with that?"

"Does he want help with it?'

"Why should that matter? I mean he's our friend, and if he needs our help we should go out of our way to do something, shouldn't we?"

"That's why you came in here isn't it?" Lina asked, looking up at Gourry. "To ask if there was anything we can do to help Zelgadis out, am I right?"

"Yeah, basically," Gourry answered, blinking.

"Well, I don't know what we can do, but I promise you that if there is anything we can do, we'll find a way to do it, ok?

With a big smile on his face, Gourry nodded. "Thanks, Lina."

"Lina smiled back. "So what did you have in mind?"

Gourry shrugged, "do you have any ideas?"

Lina thought for a moment and then an idea struck her, and her eyes narrowed. "I might have a little idea that could work..." she said with a sly smile.

Gourry blinked. "Really?"

Lina then moved closer to Gourry and sat up on her knees to whisper something in his ear. The two sat there, Gourry listening while Lina told him her plan. Soon, Gourry nodded and Lina grinned. "It's a plan then," she said.

To be continued...


	2. This If For All The Lonely People

Authors Note: Heres the second half to this story about Zelgadis and those around him. I realize that this story has a lot of background information pertaining to it that is not completely explained in the text, but I hope those of you who read this by itself can appreciate it for what it is. Now, we all know that Zel plays the guitar and sings, so at the very least that makes sense, right? To better explain the friendship between the ex-warlord Sekhmet and Zelgadis, I do have another story written, if anyones interested. And as for Kaily, well, if you knew Kaily better, believe me, this would all make a lot more sense. Granted I am bias, since I watched and co-written their story as far as it has gone, but truly, I hope you can all accept Kaily for who she is. In the Ronin Warriors world, a few jewels exist, and all of them are found in necklace form as far as we know. The jewel in this story is the Jewel of Restoration. It has a huge story behind it, but again, not here. Beyond all these details that could potentially cause confusion among you all as readers, I hope the main point comes through. That main point is that Zel lives with some pretty long lasting and painful torments, and in this story his friends attempt to at least help him with some of what is paining his closely guarded heart. Zels my favorite Slayers character, and lets face it, I love seeing him actually smile with happiness. He deserves to.  


**For A Friend**

Part II

Zelgadis Graywords sat on his bed with his head lowered and his arms wrapped around his legs. He let out a sigh and then with his right hand lifted the lavender Jewel of Restoration off his chest where it lay. The necklace that the jewel was connected to was hung around his neck, allowing the jewel itself to fall loosely on the middle of his upper chest. Ever since he received the jewel from Sekhmet, Zel had worn it around his neck and tucked it away under his shirt. However, he had now had it out in the open for all to see, and was running his fingers over its smooth and rounded edges.

It was strange, but the first time he had held it, the jewel had come to life and given him a warm boost of strength, while glowing with a soothing lavender light until all of his emotional and physical pain had subsided. It was as if the jewel had healed both his body and soul. It seemed to him that something like that taking place would be impossible. However, that's what the jewel had appeared to do.

Now, the jewel merely hung still and lifeless from his neck that held the cord attached to the jewel's lavender form. The jewel itself was cut into what almost formed a fish with a star inscribed in a pentagon in the jewel's center. Zelgadis held it in his cupped hand as it neither spun nor shown with light despite the pain he felt inside. So with a sigh, Zel allowed the jewel to drop from his grip back onto his chest, only to sit there, without reason to do anything to the contrary. Kaily was far away, leaving her happiness completely out of his control, and leaving himself to feel utterly alone and helpless despite all of his friends that were only rooms away from him. Rina, his younger sister, was without a doubt worrying about him as well. He sighed deeply and leaned his head back slightly, leaning it against his headboard as he opened his eyes to look at his ceiling. If Kaily knew about his mental state at the moment, there was no doubt in his mind that she would come as quickly as she could and do all that was in her power and more to help him and make him smile. Thinking of the look that would be on her face if she could see him at that very moment brought tears to his eyes, causing him to blink and raise a hand to wipe away his silent tears.

A few long moments passed by until Zel at last found the strength to sit up and look around the room until his eyes landed on his acoustic guitar sitting upright in the corner next to his closet. Then after another long and painful moment of silence, he pushed himself up and off of his bed. He then walked over to kneel down by his guitar, pick up its frame up off the floor, and lift it onto his lap.

Soon his fingers found their places on the bronze strings and Zel grazed his index finger and thumb of his right hand over these strings. The inner core of combined steel and silk added to the thrum of the bronze outer coat and emitted a soft tone with a drawn out sustain. Yet, even before this warm sound was allowed to fade away, Zel's left hand was busily working at tightening and loosening the strings to get the sound even more in tune than it already was. Thanks to Zelgadis's extra long and pointed ears, his hearing was excellent, and therefore his ears were extra sensitive to things such as tuning. After a few drawn out minutes and a countless number of additional thrums to check the tuning, Zel was at last satisfied, and with a gentle smile he began to strum out a few chords before beginning to play an actual song upon his bronze coated strings. The song was Lonely People by America, and once he got past the intro he took a smooth breath and began to sing the words, softly, with his mellow and soothing voice. A few lonely tears still remained in his eyes, and one by one they trickled down his cheeks as the words left his lips.

_This is for all the lonely people_

_Thinking that life has passed them by_

_Don't give up until you_

_Drink from the silver cup_

_And ride that highway in the sky_

_This is for all the single people_

_Thinking that love has left them dry_

_Don't give until you_

_Drink from the silver cup_

_You never know until you try_

Thinking about the words that he was singing, Zel managed a small smile, as he continued to sing the song for himself. He pictured moments from all over his life, a jumble of mostly lonely and painful memories until that all changed and Kaily entered his life. In his mind, he saw her smiling face and thought to himself how lucky he was to have met her, and that they had grown so closely a part of each other's lives. A few more tears dropped, but the smile on his face remained, as he continued his song.

_Well I'm on my way_

_Yes I'm back to stay_

_Well I'm on my way back home_

_Hit it!_

Now it was time for the instrumental break in the song, and Zel rose to the challenge, picking out all the chords that would usually be played on a piano. He did so with what seemed like ease, and his eyes were finally starting to dry up and show a bit more happiness, which was brought on by the music.

_This is for all the lonely people_

_Thinking that life has passed them by_

Don't give up until you

_Drink from the silver cup_

_Never take you down or never give you up_

_You never know until you try._

Strumming out the final chord, Zelgadis sighed with what seemed to give great relief to a lot of pain he had been harboring. The song itself didn't go into exactly what he was feeling, but just singing and playing his guitar made him feel stronger and more able to face the world around him. Maybe he was a bit more sentimental that most guys his age, but he didn't really care. Living the life he had had shaped him into a very emotionally soft and caring easily moved to tears by things such as music and verse, even if his physical appearance gave off an air of something very different. Playing the guitar had been a habit he had picked up in his childhood as a compliment to his studies in swordsmanship and later into shamanism, along with his vocal skill that grew to keep up with his knack for the acoustic guitar. His grandfather, Rezo, had tried many times to break him of his love for music and this new habit, but he was never able to stop his grandson from finding free time to practice. Rina even helped Zel find this time when the need came up, but more often than not, Rina would find herself unable to manage even a weak smile, only to find herself being sung to by her older brother and his guitar. To Zel, his guitar was both a tool for music and a friend. It was a way for Zel to express himself even when nobody else was there to hear what he had to say.

Finally, Zel managed a small smile as he played a few more random chords for only his ears to hear. Some of his lonely spirits had been calmed and soothed, making his separation from his beloved Kaily a bit more tolerable. His soul was not completely soothed, but what he had done certainly helped, and for that he was grateful.

But then, again he thought of Kaily and some of the loneliness came back again, and he let out a sigh. If only he could see her, but he knew there was enough going on without her having to worry about how much he missed her when she wasn't by his side.

Suddenly, there were a few footsteps outside of his bedroom door, and Zel looked up to look towards his door that led to the hallway. His ears picked up more sounds, the faint whispering of what sounded like Lina making orders. A smile slipped across his face, and Zel shook his head. Gourry must have told Lina about the mood he was in, and now she had done something to make him feel better. Lina, she was a good friend when she set her mind to it. She certainly never left you alone for too long, that's for sure. But whatever she had planned, he doubted that it would be what he needed to get on his feet again. But, at least she was trying. That was more than most had done for him in the past. So he sat on his floor, waiting.

Soon there was a knocking on Zel's door, followed by a call in Lina's voice. "Hey, Zel! You in there?" she said in her usual tone, so full of life and energy. "I heard you weren't exactly feeling too happy today, and we thought that, in being your friends, it's our obligation to do something about that."

At hearing this Zel said, "we?" aloud, and then thought to himself that the "we" and "our" had to include Gourry. He then stood up, placing his guitar back in its corner, and walked over to the door.

"Yes, Zel, we. Now, open the door already, unless you want us to just barge in there," Lina answered.

Zel shook his head and then placed his hand on the doorknob. Soon he turned the knob and opened the door to let Lina and Gourry, he assumed, start trying to cheer him up. However, this wasn't quite what awaited him.

The next thing Zel knew, once the door was swung open, was that none other than Kaily came through the doorway and he found himself being warmly embraced by the woman he loved. She then lifted her head from his chest, wrapped her arms around his neck, and looked up into his bewildered blue eyes. Kaily then gave him a big smile followed by another warm hug. "Hi, Zel," she said looking up into his eyes again, with a smile full of love stretched across her face.

Once he was able to get over the shock of not only seeing Kaily, but having her embracing him and smiling up into his un-expecting face, a rush of joy jolted through him and he returned her embrace. Zel's arms wrapped around Kaily and held her close to him, as tears of joy began to flow freely from his eyes. He managed to call out her name once, but was unable to say anything further due to the rush of wonderful emotions that were filling him as he held her ever closer to him. "Kaily...Kaily, you're here," he managed at last.

"Yes, Zel, I'm here," she answered back with yet another smile.

Standing outside, Lina, Gourry, and Rina witnessed the two as they happily stood there in Zel's doorway together, arms around the other and faces that shown with the joy and happiness that they felt in being in each other's arms. The three smiled at one another, clearly proud of what they had been able to accomplish, and rightfully so. All of the pain and sorrow that had been consuming Zelgadis till now had visibly melted away in the instant that he had Kaily safe in his arms. There was no point in going into the story of exactly how they had gotten Kaily there so quickly, or why Rina had joined the original team of Lina and Gourry. Those were all the simple details that led up to this moment in time, and therefore the present, that was the outcome of all the efforts, was the important thing. As long as Zelgadis Graywords was happy, then at least for a while, all was right with the world. For Zel being truly happy was a rare moment in deed.

------

Lina smiled to herself and grabbed Gourry by his arm in a forceful hint that it was time for them to leave. Gourry looked confused at first, but the look that Lina gave him, accompanied by the fact that Rina too was turning around to go back to what she was doing before, turned on a light somewhere and he followed Lina, leaving both Zel and Kaily alone in each other's arms.

"I think we did good," Lina said to Gourry when they were a fair distance away from Zel's room.

"Zel certainly did look happy," Gourry pointed out.

"And so did Kaily," Lina chimed in. "It's a shame that they have to be apart for such long periods all the time. No wonder problems like this come up."

"It's a good thing that Zel's strong, then," Gourry noted, putting his right hand on Lina's right shoulder.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. But I doubt that was the type of power he was searching for all these years."

Gourry smiled and looked down at Lina before opening his mouth to speak. "Sometimes, the best things in life are found when you're not looking for them. They just show up along the way, and they make everything else all worth while."

"And where did a big oaf like you get the brains to figure that out?" Lina asked, caught slightly off guard by Gourry's enlightened insight.

Sighing, Gourry shook his head, "I don't know, Lina. I just thought... Never mind, I'll explain it to you later," he said, looking slightly put out.

"Thought? You? That's a rare thing for you, Gourry."

"Forget I said it, Lina. Next time I won't talk about you when I'm being serious," he said, walking off towards his room.

"You were talking about me?" Lina said, blinking. "Hold on a minute, Gourry!" she called out to him, running the short distance to catch up with him. "Were you really talking about me?"

Gourry sighed, stopped, and looked down at Lina again. He then gripped onto Lina's hand, holding it for her to see clearly.

Lina looked curiously at the back of her own hand until her auburn eyes landed on the diamond crested metal band around her ring finger, her engagement ring. The symbolism of both Gourry's comment and the ring then sunk into Lina Inverse's mind, and she looked down at the floor. "Sorry, Gourry..." she apologized in a far away tone.

But Gourry only smiled and leaned down to kiss the top of Lina's head, causing her to blush slightly. "Don't worry about it, Lina," he told her as he stood up tall again and ruffled the bright red hair at the top of her head playfully. "You're forgiven," he said with a big smile.

After being forgiven, Lina managed to look up timidly, with her big auburn eyes, into Gourry's smiling face. "Thank you, Gourry," she murmured with a shy smile.

"No problem, Lina, and don't worry about it," he said, still smiling radiantly down at her. Then the next thing he knew, Lina jumped up and gave him a big hug around his neck, to which Gourry caught her, using his left arm to support her and his right to hug her back. "We did good today."

"I think we did too," Lina added in, releasing her hold on Gourry's neck to look up at him, smiling.

All of a sudden, they heard footsteps behind them, and Gourry turned around so that they could both see whom it was. Once he was turned he saw that it was none other than Zelgadis walking towards them, alone but with a content look on his face. "Where'd Kaily go, Zelgadis?" he asked before Lina had the chance.

"She had to go home, after all, you two did catch her on short notice," Zel answered calmly.

"And are you feeling a little less alone now, Zel?" came the voice of Lina from her high perch in Gourry's arms.

"Yes, and thank you," answered Zel with a friendly smile.

------

Soon Zel found himself being hugged by his friends, Lina Inverse and Gourry Gabriev. And not long after, his sister, Rina, joined in on the group hug that was surrounding her brother. Zel was grateful for them all, for it really was one of the best feelings in the world to have friends who really cared.

The End (Owari)


End file.
